Brave feels slow lately

Brave Browser
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1

Hi there , I’ve been using brave for years now . But recently . I’ve felt like brave gets too heavy on my laptop . I’ve switched to Linux since I thought it’s a windows issue. But it’s same there.
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I’ve tested the resources usage on brave and Firefox. At first brave seems to use 100mb less ram then Firefox . But then when you open a heavy tab on both sometimes brave exceed Firefox.**

And about the CPU. Brave been using it a lot.

My device configuration : i3 10th gen, 4 gb ram. No gfx. . current os : mint

NOTE : I have memory saver : medium and GPU acceleration turned on .

Chatgpt also said that brave became slow lately.

I don’t wanna switch to other browser . I love brave since I’ve been with it for so long .

Is there any way to make brave use low ram CPU?

Thanks .

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Description of the issue:

Steps to Reproduce (add as many as necessary): 1. 2. 3.

Actual Result (gifs and screenshots are welcome!):

Expected result:

Reproduces how often:

Operating System and Brave Version(See the About Brave page in the main menu):

Additional Information:

2

4GB of RAM? In 2025, that’s not entirely a good idea.

Your only option is to go to brave://settings/system and turn on the memory saver.

If you also have no graphics card as you seem to infer, you need to understand the iGPU is using some of that 4GB RAM as well. You likely only have 3.5GB usable as 512MB is the standard these days for iGPU’s.

Sadly the real fix, and right now is not the time to buy RAM, but adding more than 4GB of RAM is your ultimate choice. 4GB of RAM was standard a decade ago, but not in 2025. I’d say 16GB is the standard if a non-gamer, with 8GB being the “you can get by”, and 32GB being the “you’re comfortable for now”. But 4GB is suffocating.

Also, if you don’t fill the rest of the template out correctly, no one even knows what OS you have, or what version of Brave. Either way, your computer has so little RAM for 2025, Windows 11 consumes this much with nothing even open, so you’re living off of virtual memory and no browser fix can help you here. You need RAM and that’s basically it.

3

Thanks for your suggestion. I don’t think having a little as 4 gb ram isn’t bad . I do most heavy lifting through Vps . On another sense it’s not worth it for me to upgrade this 2012 laptop.

My point was that , it has been slower than Firefox since a month .

4

I find it hard to believe Firefox works better than Brave for you. I also truly find it hard to believe you really don’t think 4GB of RAM is an issue.

Here’s a screenshot of Windows 11 with NOTHING running, only background app is my AMD GPU and sound card driver utility, that’s it. It uses 6GB of RAM to idle at a desktop.

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I also opened Brave as is (with 4 extensions installed mind you) and Firefox on this very page (Firefox has NO extensions, not signed into anything, just a test browser) and look at that, Firefox uses more RAM than Brave, and in my case, Brave’s memory saver is off:

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(Shoot, even Discord’s sky high on RAM usage, more than Brave itself!)

Also, I’m afraid I don’t think you understand your computer, so let me tell you something: Your CPU supports up to 128GB of RAM. It uses DDR4 memory. The average cheapest and smallest size module that’s DDR4 is 4GB. You also still have not acknowledge your GPU situation, so clearly you don’t understand but are trying to come across as if you do. You think you have no GPU when you do, it’s in your CPU, and guess what, that consumes RAM. No task manager screenshots were provided, because I know what we’d be staring at, low RAM. lol

So here’s where I stand: Brave uses less RAM than Firefox, you switched operating systems and found no difference because clearly your computer is RAM starved. You even ignored the Brave memory saver point to give you any chance. Fact is, I don’t think you care, you don’t know your computer, you think 4GB of RAM is normal. Take a look at how much RAM I have in my screenshot, that’s a hint as to how much short you are for the present time. 32GB is recommend, 16GB is the minimum these days. 8GB will be slow but you might get by. 4GB is impossible though.

I worked in IT for 20 years, I’ve maintained a lot of machines. What I find humorous about this argument, is the last PC I had with 4GB of RAM was an old Compaq laptop in 2009. I want you to think about that. This:

I don’t think having a little as 4 gb ram isn’t bad

Is honestly just not true and wishful dreams.

With that, good luck. I won’t be responding further here. Memory saver in Brave is the only chance you got, but I told you your option: Add more RAM.

5

Thanks for your suggestion .
I have recently replaced a ram stick . Its 6 GB in total now .
However I think my 4 gb was more than enough . You much understand i3 370m and the motherboard supports upto 4+4=8 GB of ram .

And now 6 Gb of ram feels more than enough for me . I am satisfied with what I have .

My main issue wasnt on brave .

In windows : idle ram usage was around 2 gb . so brave had hard space to breath .

In linux : The idle ram usage is like 500-700 MB, Cpu is like 0-3% the main issue wasnt i ram . It was in mesa driver for being slower .

The problem was that intregrated gpus (ironlake ) for i3 370m :”s driver (mesa) isnt well optimized anymore in latest mesa version .

Thats why Angular, gpu accelaration wasnt being used properly .

Thanks for the support . I appriciate it .